It Happens
by WhiskeyTears
Summary: Takes place following Judgement Day. New Agents? What will happen to the others? Will they be back? Life on a Ship. Life in Tel Aviv. Life in a new building. Life with new Agents. How will everyone handle it? Bad summary, hopefully better story!
1. Observations

**Observations**

Andrew Jacobs. Christopher Lance. Nadia Shalev.

His new team.

Gibbs sat at his desk starring at the unopened folders, the profiles and complete backgrounds of his "new team."

_Like hell. _

The only reason he even knew the names was because they were written on the top tab of the little brown folders.

His eyes flicked up to his Senior Agent who was now cleaning out his desk. All original DiNozzo belongings were being placed into one massive brown box. He studied his face, every few minutes he would clench his jaw and shake his head.

_I feel ya Tony._

His eyes then drifted over to McGee's desk where Abby actually sat. She had entered into the acceptance stage and was now hugging herself as she watched McGee get his personal affects in order, however obscure they were.

It was the actual lack of movement to his right that next caught his eyes.

Ziva sat back in her chair staring into space.

He saw her fingers curl up into a fist as if she'd had a death grip on something …or someone. A few seconds later she let her fingers drop and closed her eyes as if in some sort of silent resignation.

_Oh yeah, she was pissed._

He could only imagine what the members of his team were thinking, because yes, they would always be "his team."

Out of the sixteen plus years of being a criminal investigator, this was the best team he'd worked with. They were good. They were the best. And he knew part of that was because of him, but mostly it was each individual who brought amazing talent to the table. He respected each of them.

And tomorrow they'd all be gone. DiNozzo's odd charm and unique methods would be squandered away on a ship. Poor McGee would be without Abby. How was any work ever going to get done without that unique pair?

He swore more often then not they solved cases because of their brainstorming and computer antics.

And Ziva. He feared for her the most. Being shipped back to Tel Aviv and back to Daddy was certainly not the ideal place for her to be. Sure she was a …what did Tony call her? A Super Ninja Chick…but she'd be dead within a year. He could already see the look on Jenny's face when…

The pencil Gibbs was holding in his hand stilled then dropped as he realized what he'd just thought.

Jenny was dead.

She wouldn't have anymore looks on her face. Wouldn't call him Jethro anymore. Not ever again would she stand atop those stairs where his eyes had managed to trail.

On top of everything else that just wasn't something he was ready to deal with.

"Boss." Tony's voice cut through his thoughts and he realized his agents and Abby had come to stand in front of his desk.

They all stared at him. Looking for confidence. Pleading for him to tell them something he didn't think he'd be able to do. Not yet anyway.

Tony knew.

When Gibbs could only look at him, Tony knew and decided to give the others the hint and move it along.


	2. Goodbyes

**Goodbyes**

"Well from the streets of Baltimore to the jails of DC and now to the wide…wide open seas." Tony said with as much dread and loathing as he could muster seeing his boring future play out in front of him. He did have a flare for the dramatics but anyone could see he wasn't faking this.

Gibbs stood up and walked behind him bringing his hand up to slap him on the back of his head even as Tony winced.

"Jail.. DiNozzo. Not Plural. You were only in one." Gibbs said and Tony turned around to face his Boss. The two stared at each other in silent respect for seconds one end. Once the moment passed the two men shook hands and nodded. It was the easiest goodbye either of them could have asked for.

Tony then turned to McGee and clapped his hand on his shoulder.

"McGee…I've taught you all I know, go out there and get you some."

Always the one to make light when he was really feeling pain inside Tony gave him that big DiNozzo smile and a mischievous little wink.

Even though Tony was constantly giving him a hard time, teasing him about his choice of clothing, his wealth of knowledge, both trivial and extremely important, and his eclectic mix of extra curricular activities, McGee had a feeling he would end up missing him more then anyone…except maybe Abby.

"I won't let you down Tony."

"You'd better not….elf lord." Tony grinned and took his hand off his shoulder with a smile, he couldn't resist just one more dig.

McGee shook his head and let him have that one as a freebie. It wasn't like he wasn't expecting it.

Tony took a side-step and ended up in front of Abby who was doing her very best to fight back buckets of tears. He leaned in slowly, placed a kiss on her cheek and wrapped his arms around her.

"Try not to let Gibbs scare the new kids too bad." He whispered into her ear.

Abby pulled back to look at him, "You are still scared of Gibbs Tony."

Tony glanced over to the Boss whose lips had curved into half a smirk.  
"Well yeah, I mean look at hi..."

At Gibb's now stern glare Tony back-peddled and let go of Abby.  
"Just, keep an eye on him for me will ya Abs?"

Abby nodded, the sheen of tears back in her eyes as she let him go.

Finally Tony came to the last person it was time to say goodbye to and when his eyes met hers his smile faded and he swallowed hard.

"Be careful, Ziva." It took him a minute to get the words out and when he did he saw the reaction on her face. She blankly nodded and answered with an "I will" followed by "you too." And that was it, with that he stared at her a few seconds longer, making sure he memorized her face and then with a short and very slight nod of his head he turned and headed towards the elevator doors, backpack slung over his shoulder, huge box in his arms. He heard the final ding of the elevators doors and stepped inside turning around to face the bullpen, all eyes still on him. He gave a cheery DiNozzo smile before the doors closed on his friends and his teammates for mostly likely the last time. On the ride down he cursed every power that be that this is what it had come to.


	3. Not Simple

"Be careful."

The words played like a loop in her head as she watched the elevator doors close on him.

_Be. Careful?_

What in the hell was that? Each member of their team had gotten a heartfelt goodbye and she had gotten "be careful."

Ziva threw her bag down hard on her desk and stalked off towards the stairs.

The two left standing gave each other knowing side long glances as Gibbs resumed his seated position behind his desk. They couldn't tell if he really was clueless or just acting that way.

Ziva burst out into the warm sunshine that baked the top floor of the parking garage. He was fighting with something in his trunk and she watched as he tried to close the lid again and it sprang back up. He let out a very loud American curse word and turned to lean against the bumper. That's when he saw her coming towards him and dropped his head, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

_This wasn't going to be good._

She came to stand before him, her heated energy and contained anger practically jumped off of her.

He looked up to see fire in her eyes.

"Be Careful." Was all she said and he just stared at her, sad eyes hidden behind sunglasses. When he didn't say what she wanted to hear she finally went off. Years of frustration being unloaded in one hundred and twenty seconds.

"Is that all you have to say to me Tony is be careful?" she fumed. "How is it that you managed to give everyone else a very proper goodbye and you could hardly look me in the eyes in there?" She paused to take a breath but kept right along, her voice not getting louder but getting colder and more hurt.

"After everything we've been through, after being partners for all these years. After knowing that I was given a death sentence by Vance in that office, you still couldn't manage a simple apology?" She raged.

Tony had had it and pushed himself away from the car, coming to land two steps in front of her.

"No, Ziva. I couldn't say goodbye…not to you" he rushed through clenched teeth.

She stared at him, mildly surprised by his outburst.

"Even if I could say goodbye, it definitely wouldn't have been simple" he said after taking his glasses off and looking hard into her eyes.

His voice had lost a bit of it's edge and it was all Ziva could do to try and stay mad at him. It was a much more favorable emotion then the alternative.

"I'm sorry Ziva." Tony said quietly, nothing but honesty and hurt left in his voice.

The glare in Ziva's eyes backed off a little and he felt himself relax a fraction of an inch.

"Apology accepted Tony"

He'd apologized so she couldn't be mad at him anymore and it was the alternative that began to flood her mind. She was struggling to get a hold of the pain and sadness when he finally spoke.

"To be honest, I think I'm going to find it hard to live without you" he said, scrubbing the back of his neck as if he were almost ashamed to admit it. His head was down so she couldn't see his eyes but the force of his words didn't hit her any less. A small smile played upon her lips after she recovered.

"What is it that you have a hard time without Tony? The constant bickering or the intense competition?"

Always one to try and keep the mood light, Ziva pushed herself away from what she was feeling and attempted to make light of the situation with a small joke. However most of the humor was gone in Tony's eyes and all that remained was an intense heat that burned its way right through her.

Okay, so that's what he'd miss.

She wasn't going to lie; she'd certainly miss that two. That…thing between them that shot off into a million different directions whenever they were together.

"Nah, it's gonna be more then that Ziva." His lips turned up into the crooked little smile and for a few brief seconds she swore she was going to pass out.

"Gibbs'll figure it out" he said trying to wrap things up so he could get in his car, drive home, open a bottle of whiskey and cry like a baby.

"We'll probably be back here in a few days as if nothing had ever happened" he lied.

He knew it would take Gibbs some time to even figure out what his next move would be, let alone how to go about it. But he wasn't going to leave Ziva without at least a little bit of hope. He knew exactly what it meant for her to go back to Tel Aviv. He knew what would happen if Gibbs didn't figure something out soon.

She'd be dead.

And just that fast fear struck him enough to make his body swing into motion. His bag dropped off his shoulder and his hands came to rest on the sides of her face, pulling her lips towards his. She didn't hesitate like he thought she would, instead she melted right into him, allowing them both this moment in time to cherish. It hadxx been a long time coming and now it just seemed like the perfect way to say goodbye.

They both pulled apart at the same time, breathing hard and looking more then a little flushed.

Ziva spoke first, taking a few steps back. After she was able to clear her throat and force words out of her mouth she said her last goodbye.

"Af Al Pe Chain. Atah."

With that she turned and headed towards the stairs that would begin her on her journey back to Tel Aviv.

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Okay, so I did the best I could with the Hebrew. You aren't meant to know what it means unless you actually speak Hebrew… If I made any mistakes with it, I apologize.


	4. Comparisons

**Disclaimer:**

**Since I haven't done one of these, I suppose now is a good time as ever to start so I don't get sued. None of the characters are mine, save for the ones I have made up, obviously.**

**And I want to thank Precious Pup for giving me the idea of adding a new chick for McGee. And thanks to all for the reviews. They make my day!**

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**Comparisons**

"Your computer, your work station, your work." The man named Byron said as he tossed a rather large stack of files and paperwork directly in front of McGee.

He was short and balding. And there was no way McGee could ever see his way to calling this man "Boss." He stared at his little office space, because that's what this was. An office. With one computer.

He'd gone from NCIS Special Agent McGee with a dozen technical toys at his finger tips, to Mr. McGee, a pencil pushing, data entry, run-of-the-mill geek in the basement of some building across town.

Tim wanted to scream.

But before he had the chance to permanently scar his co-workers, a pretty brunette stuck her head around his cubicle wall.

"Boy, somebody somewhere must really not like you." She said and stepped around so that she was on his side of the wall they shared.

Tim, easily distracted, had a questioning look on his face and it wasn't until she laughed and held her hand out that he snapped out of his trance.

"I'm Jocelyn. It's nice to meet you…" She held her hand in the air waiting for him to answer her question.

McGee almost dropped his briefcase and newspaper in trying to free up a hand to offer her.

"McGee. Timothy McGee." He spoke, his mouth suddenly dry as the desert.

"Timothy." She politely nodded her head and shook his hand. McGee was two seconds away from being a puddle on the floor, but she finally pulled her hand back and looked at his desk with a grimace.

"Wow, they really aren't taking pity on the new guy are they?"

Great. He was already dubbed as the 'new guy' again. McGee followed her gaze and sighed.

"Do 'they' take pity on anyone here?"

Jocelyn shot him a "yeah right" look and McGee smiled. "Yeah that's what I thought."

He dropped his briefcase next to the most uncomfortable looking chair he'd ever seen and began to shrug out of his rain coat.

"Hey, buck up soldier. You've got me to brighten your days." She said and plastered on a cheery face, no doubt only for his benefit.

She reminded him of Abby. Positive attitude and cheery disposition, sweet smile and dark lipstick. Only on Jocelyn the dark color didn't look gothic. It brought out the deep honey brown of her eyes and made her look even more attractive. And that was it. The comparison ended there.

"Want a tour of the place?" She offered obviously not yet ready to go back to work or leave him to his. At McGee's nod she turned and pointed at the far wall.

"See those four doors?"

McGee raised an eyebrow but nodded his answer. She began pointing right to left and ticked them off on her fingers.

"Stairwell, restroom, kitchenette, computer terminal." She turned and bowed slightly to him.

"Tour complete, thank you for choosing Neal Atlantic, please come again."

That earned her a chuckle from McGee and a grateful "thank you."

"Well, looks like you've got a lot of work to do, so I'll let you get to it. Please, if you need anything at all, just let me know. The rest of the stiffs in this joint aren't very friendly…or helpful." She flashed him a smile and disappeared behind her wall.

McGee slowly sat in his chair, a bit more then blindsided by his new sudden friend, and flicked on his computer. He was about to open the top file on his desk but his curiosity got the better of him. He leaned back in his chair enough to see the four computer screens and two keyboards Jocelyn was already rigorously typing away on. It appeared she was writing some sort of new decoding program, with zero's and one's flying about on two screens, CNN silently reporting away on a third and a…RPG game sitting idle on the fourth? Not to mention a huge caffeinated drink sitting on a coaster next to her light.

McGee leaned forward, his eyes narrowed and his mind cluttered.

Maybe the comparison didn't end with the disposition and dark lipstick…and maybe McGee wouldn't totally hate working in this new department.


	5. Too Late

**Too Late**

He'd been too late.

Tony sat at his desk in the tiny little office that was offered to the current Agent Afloat which just happened to be him. He'd only been on the ship for two weeks, out to sea for one of them and already he was home sick. Not only was he home sick but he was uncomfortable being home sick. He'd never missed a place so much before in his entire life. Of course it was not so much a physical place, rather, a place in time.

His thoughts drifted off again to the same image he'd been carrying in his mind for fourteen days, eleven hours and thirty-two minutes. It was the way she looked when she had kissed him that day. She was furious with him in one second and butter in his arms the next. Tony wasn't one to kiss untraditionally with his eyes open, but the reality that she was in his arms, her lips pressed against his hit him so hard he had to make sure it was really her and not a figment of his imagination playing a seriously cruel joke on him.

She was surprisingly cool despite the above average hot and humid DC weather. Of course, she did just come storming out of a building that was being cooled down to a sub arctic temperatures. Maintenance had worked on the cooling system at the end of the previous summer and the kinks still weren't worked out. There was no complaints of being too hot. Now people just had to take their lunch breaks outside to thaw out.

Tony smiled briefly at the memory. _Stupid boat with it's perfect stupid temperature. _He silently cursed the vessel that a few years ago he would have jumped at the chance to serve on. He looked down at the investigation he was supposed to be working on. Cases had been slow and OPM had tasked him to complete a simple background investigation on a Petty Officer aboard ship. He hadn't started it yet. In fact, he'd shoved it to the bottom of his pile of similarly boring cases to finish on a rainy day. And it was just his luck that he'd woken up this morning to high winds and stormy skies.

It reminded him of a case they'd worked shortly after Gibbs had "retired." NCIS was assigned a case on a Naval Carrier that had sailed out of Norfolk only days earlier. The team had hopped a military helo and caught up with the ship a few miles out at sea. Tony was used to it, McGee was his usual sea-sickly self letting everyone know it and Ziva…she was a trooper. They were only there for a grand total of five days, four of which were during a storm, and Tony would stake his career on the fact that Ziva was sick for at least three of them. Of course, she tried not to let anyone catch on. It was only the general green color her face would turn every time they lay topside that gave her away. Tony, always prepared as Team Leader, slipped her some Dramamine to help with her nausea. She was so grateful to him that she promised to cook him dinner one night when they returned.

Boy did he jump on that band wagon.

She'd made him one of her specialty dinners. A dish straight from her home country, one he couldn't even begin to try to pronounce. Every time he would she would roll her eyes at him and say it with articulate clarity, as if that would help him say it correctly.

"Honestly, I had to learn a whole language complete with your silly idioms, and words that have sixteen different meanings a piece, and you can't manage the name of one little dish." She'd teased him mercilessly which only prompted him to try and pronounce it again. At his mincing of her language she just chuckled to herself and poured more wine into his glass.

That smile brought him back to his present situation. And the fact that once again in his life, he'd been too late.

She was already on the plane by the time he'd gotten to the airport. He flashed his credentials and was allowed through but the plane was already taxiing out to the runway, Ziva aboard.

After they had shared that one kiss, that one amazing moment in time, she backed up, muttered something in Hebrew and was gone before he could even think about stopping her. Of course, after she was out of sight he was too chicken to run after her. In fact, it took him a good ten minutes just to move from the spot against his car he'd managed to back up into again, probably as a support when she pulled back and walked away. He'd just watched her walk away, gotten in his car and drove home.

And didn't think of anything else since then.

That night had been a long one. It included alcohol and silence. Countlessly flipping his phone open and staring at the speed dial button that would call her, only to snap the phone shut and watch it sail across the room from the force of his frustration. It hadn't taken him too long to pack, in fact, he'd gotten everything together rather quickly in an attempt to distract him from the thoughts running through his mind. The rest of the night he spent fruitlessly attempting to sleep, torn from his desire to just get in the car and drive to her apartment and his resolve to just begin the next phase in his life, chalking it up to the perfect goodbye kiss.

No. It had to be more then that.

And by the time he'd figured it out, he'd had exactly a half hour until her plane took off from Reagan. He figured he'd broken about fifteen different traffic laws trying to get to the airport, dialing her phone the entire way leaving only one message.

"Libi imcha."

During that restless night he'd remembered what she'd said to him and it took about two hours of research before he finally found what it meant. As soon as he found the translation he was out the door and in his car quicker then if Gibbs would have given him the order to go after her himself.

He'd gotten to the airport, parked his car illegally and bolted into the terminal in time to see the plane moving further away from the building. He could only watch helplessly as she slipped right through his fingers. And he did. He watched until she was no more then a tiny spec in the sky, the plane climbing higher and higher, further and further with each second that ticked by.

He was due on the Reagan that evening so in defeat he left the airport, thanking the Lord that his car was still parked with it's government tags and flashers on where he'd left it.

She was gone.

Maybe for good.

And that though almost made him double over.

It was the same sinking feeling he had now, forty-five minutes after he had put the Petty Officer's file in front of him. It was already two hours into his shift and he'd gotten squat accomplished. He sat up straight, gave himself a whack to the back of the head and focused all of his energy on reading the Petty Officer's SF-86 form that he filled out about himself, trying to get acquainted with the sailor before he had to go speak with him. He'd better hear from Gibbs soon or he was literally going to go insane.

**A/N Sorry it took so long to get this up. I had a few ways I could do this in my mind and it kept coming out wrong, this was the end result. Not the best I know, just a pretty angsty TIVA piece with little dialogue, which I hate! I promise the rest will be better, I also had to try to set up why they would be coming back together and I think I may have figured that out in this. OPM stands for Office of Personnel Management and again, forgive the Hebrew if it is wrong. I did my best. So, reviews appreciated. Hope you enjoyed!**


	6. Initial Evidence

**Initial Evidence**

Abby pouted.

She hated the new team.

Even though she scolded herself every time she thought that. Hate was such a strong word, but there was no way she could ever see her way to liking any of the three people who replaced her best friends.

Jacobs was former Navy.

And a pain in the ass.

And he would always second guess her. Even when Gibbs would point out the obvious flaws in his theories, he'd still go against her forensics. Her science. Her scientific fact. The man would argue against pure fact! It infuriated her.

Lance was a sleaze.

He was constantly looking at her as if she were a piece of prime rib on a silver platter.

Or a blue ribbon to be won at a county fair.

He was tall, very muscular, and built like a linebacker. There was no doubt that he intimidated her but every suggestive glance he shot her she sent one back she was sure the devil couldn't rival.

And he hated Burt.

And then there was Nadia. This one was from Argentina, a member of the Argentine Intelligence System, the Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia Criminal. When she introduced herself to Abby her accent rolled off her tongue thicker then Ziva's Israeli one. She had pretty, long dark brown hair and a body that would have equaled Ziva's or Kate's. She sat at McGee's desk although it was clear that she was the more senior agent in the room, besides Gibbs of course.

Even though Abby didn't like her, she at least appreciated her more then the other two brown-nosers who Vance had managed to round up. She didn't suck up to Gibbs or the new Director, as a matter of fact, she looked as unhappy to be at NCIS as Abby was to have her there. And she stayed out of her way, which meant Abby didn't have to pretend to be nice to her. That would have been hard for Abby, someone who was usually cheerful and friendly to everyone. Her only solace anymore was when Gibbs would come down with some evidence, then she would have something to focus on.

Her computer beeped her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see the words POSITIVE MATCH flashing across her screen.

Gibbs was going to be happy with her.

"Hey Abs, whatchya got for me." Gibbs entered her lab and she put the phone back in it's cradle before she even dialed a number.

"Gibbs, you have to tell me how you do that someday."

He just set a Caf-Pow down in front of her with a small grin playing at the corner of his lips, waiting expectantly.

Abby took a long pull of her caffeinated drink before launching into a whole explanation of how she got from point A to point L in her own little investigation in her lab. Gibbs waited as long as he could to appease her, but with McGee gone, Abby was explaining for two now and sometimes she got a little carried away.

"Abs. You goin' somewhere with this?" He interrupted as she was going on about a bloodstain in the shape of some Hindu deity.

Abby snapped to attention and gave him a salute which he immediately explained was with the wrong hand.

"Anyway" Abby went on ignoring his direction and letting him finally know what he was standing in her lab for, "the body downstairs no longer belongs to Jane Doe. Meet Sydney Jameson. Thirty-two years old, white female, health in perfect condition…except for the bullet hole between her eyes." Abby's fingers flew over her keyboard and a driver's license and Army Issued Command Access Card popped up on the plasma in front of Gibbs.

He studied the face for a few seconds then turned back to Abby expectantly. He knew by now not to leave after she had only divulged one piece of information. And like she always did, she read his mind and just kept going.

"Now, the blood from the pool, now that is a little hinky since it was diluted with chlorine and the chemicals that balance the PH in any swimming pool. Especially the ones at community pools, have you ever noticed that your nose hairs can, like, fall out because of the over abundance of chemicals they put in there…?"

Abby looked up from her graphs and charts on her computer screen to see an increasingly agitated Gibbs staring back at her.

"You probably don't go to community swimming pools do you." She said slowly knowing she was his favorite but still prone to the Gibbs stare and temper.

"No." He stated simply and walked back around to her side and leaned down to squint and try to see the little lines on her computer screen.

Abby knew a comment about his poor eye sight at this moment wouldn't be the best idea so she just kept typing away, isolating the key factors she got from the Mass Spec that helped her identify the DNA that surrounded their current victim.

"Well, we were up all night and analyzed every ounce of water that we could get our hands on from that pool. As you would imagine most of it was Sydney Jamesons, but a closer look would reveal this." Abby pushed another button and the license of another female popped up on her plasma.

"Cassandra Kelley. Also thirty-two years old, donated blood three weeks ago to the blood drive held at the Fort Meade Army Base in Maryland. All the blood helps save a life of a soldier." Abby pulled up a flier announcing the blood drive that she'd found on the Army Bases website.

"That's a good job Abs. Send that…

"Upstairs and to the printer." She interrupted him, anticipating his next direction.

"Agents Larry, Moe and Curly should have it in their hot little hands about now."

Gibbs smirked and leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek. She happily accepted it and picked up her Caf-Pow to suck more caffeine strength out of it as Gibbs exited her lab and went to rejoin the others in the squad room. Another case was starting to heat up!

**A/N**

Alright, I really have no idea where I am going with this, I mean, I have an idea but once I start writing it turns into something completely different. And I'm not a forensics expert so any of the science stuff in here that's completely wrong, I'm sorry. All I know is what I've been reading from casebooks. Hope you enjoyed this Gibbs/Abby chapter, if you like, I will write more!


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